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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. A. ADAMSON.

APPARATUS FOR TEACHING MUSIC. No. 451,010. Patented Apr. 28,1891.

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A. ADAMSGN.

APPARATUS FOR. TEACHING MUSIC.

No. 451,010. Patented Apr.28, 1891.

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APPMLATUS FOR TEACHING MUSIC. No. 451,010,l Patented Apr. 28, 1891A.

FIG.9.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDR ADAMSON, OF DUNDEE, SCOTLAND.

APPARATUS FOR TEACHING lVlUSlC.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,010, dated. April. 28, 1891.

Application filed October 30, 1889. Serial No. 328,734. (No model.) Patented in England October 8, 1887, No. 13,626.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER ADAMsoN, teacher of music, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at '7 9 Commercial street, Dundee, lin the county of Forfar, Scotland, have invented Apparatus for the rleaching of Music and other Branches of Education by Signs, (for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, dated October S, 1887, No. 13,62G,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to and coniprises new or improved modes and means or combinations of appliances for the teaching of music simultaneously, sounding the notes of the music or words by the voice or the harmonium 0r instrument to which the apparatus is applied, orteaching other branches of education by signs and sounding the words at the same time to associate the signs and the sounds`in the pupils mind; and in order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention relates to understand how it may be carried into effect or practice, I have hereunto appended three explanatory sheets of drawings, in which the same reference-letters are used to indicate like or corresponding parts in all the figures where shown.

Figure l on Sheet l is atransverse vertical section of a simple portable construction of my new or improved instrument or teachers symbolic auxiliary in a portable form for teaching music or other branches of education, and Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively a front elevation and plan of the same instrument corresponding to Fig. l, both partly in section to show the details of construction and action more clearly, while Figs. et to 8 are detached views of details to a large scale. Fig. Gl shows a Eew extra scales for teaching other subjects as well as the musical scales S s shown over the keys in Figs. l to 3. Figs. 9 and lO on Sheet 2 are a transverse vertical section and a partial front elevation, respectively, of my improvements or teachers symbolic auxiliary as applied to a harmonium, and Fig. 1l on Sheet 3 is a sectional plan of the application shown in Fig. 9, with the center portion broken away at Z Z.

Referring to Figs. l to 8 on Sheet l of these drawings, in this arrangement a card-box A, (shown` in detached section and plan, Fig. 4,)

with its equally-divided vert-ical guides and slots a for containing and guiding the cards ct, is made long and portable to suit a recess or chamber in the top back part ot' the outer inclosed case A A2, and open above and below and having the cards a with the signs ot' the notes on them arranged equally distant in octaves and resting ou bottom ledges a2 at the sides below the vertical guides a', so that the cards can be raised by a button b at the top of the raising spindles l), (shown detached in Fig. 5,) and working freely over the guidebottom A5 of the chamber A A at the top of the main frame A3 A". The spindles l) are fitted to work up through the iixed guide-bars A5 A in a single row or rank, each exactly under the center ot the cards a and in line with and over the back of a set of iinger-keys K 7o, analogous to those of a harmonium, and shown in Figs. 2 and 3, of rather more than two and a half octaves, suitable for teaching within the compass of the ordinary voice for, say, about an octave below and an octave and halt above the mid C natural, as indicated at C* and by letters on the front finger ends of, say, twenty white keys K in Fig. 3, and thirteen half-tone black keys 7s, which raise and actuate, as hereinafter described, thirty-three cards a in the box A. The keys K 7e oscillate on their center fulcrum-pins, as dotted in at K3, and are steadied on guide-pins K'l on a bar K5. Each lever K 7e' is titted with an upper back lever K, with an anti-friction roller. K2 on its upper back end, (shown detached in elevation and plan in Fig. 8,) and a second lever L (shown detached in elevation and plan, Fig. 7) is mounted over the roller K2 ot' each lever K by a fulcrum-pin at Z at one end in brackets fixed to the longitudinal rail L2 of the end trames A2 of the box; but it might be a movable rail, as hereinafter described. The rear end of each lever L is connected by a link Z to a moving block Z2, secured by stiff friction; but it might be by a pinchingscrew to the spindle b opposite and passing through it, so as to lift this and the card L over it corresponding to each key K 7e of the key-board by the depression of each ykey by its levers K K or 7.: K and roller K2, the latter acting on a projecting curved part L of the lever L in front of the fulcrum Z. Each lever L is fitted in front of ICO .the fulcru in Z with a screw-spindle and weight IF to nearly counterbalance the weight of the lever L and the weight of the card and spin.- dle a ZJ which it actuates, the weight Z3 being made adjustable on its screw-spindle, as indicated in dotted lines in the large view Fig. 7, the under head b' of the spindle b and the blocks Z2 and guide-rails AG being tted with strips of felt or chamois leather to act as a cushion and lessen the sound of the action of these parts in their up and down motion, and all inclosed within the upperand front boards B B', secured to the ends A2 of the ease A3 A4 and having the scales S and s of the ordinary staff and the tonic sol-fa notations, respectively, secured on the front board B', close over the keys K Zo, as seen more particularly in Fig. 2. In Figs. l and 2 the inid-key C natural (marked 0*) is shown depressed and its lever L and spindle l) and card c as raised.

Referring to Figs. Q to l1 on Sheets 2 and 3, which show my new appliances described in Figs. 1 to 8 as applied to the upper part of a harmoniuni H, the raising-rods b and levers L K for raising the cards a are inade and connected substantially like those shown and described in reference to the portable ar` rangement, Figs. l to S, and the parts lettered to correspond, so that they will not require special reference except in so far as the essen- A tial differences adopted in adapting Jthe application of my said improvements to a harinoiiiunill so as to be worked by the keys K Zo thereof at will, as desired. The keys K Zt' of the harmonium are mounted, as usual, on their back fulcrum-pins K3 on the top of a rail K, steadied on their front guide-pins K'l all over their reed-box levers l, each with a closing pallet-blade or wire-spring lever I', with a valve l3 on one end of the lever I, while the other end raises the keys K Ze to their level position through a regulating- Screw l2 on the under side of each key ready for being actuated and depressed by the iingers, all so far in an ordinary manner. In this arrangement the back lever K' is secured to each key K Zt of the harinoniuin H and acts on the supplementary lever L L', all as before described in reference to Figs. l to S; but in this case the Whole row of levers L have their fiilcrumed carrying-brackets screwed to the back bar L2, sliding` vertically on the end brackets L3, which carry the'guide-frain es A? A of the spindles ZJ and secured as a longitudinal moving frame by the bar L4 to slide longitudinally on the back iixed bar L5, the spindles Z) in this case having spring-plate clips b2 at their upper part for gripping, holding, and carrying the cards a, like the finger and thumb, without a separate portable box A, and shown in side and edge views in different forins in Figs. 6 and 6 on Sheet l, Fig. (5 being made out of Wire with a prong in its upper end to pass through the card, the upper guide-board A5 in this case working by feathers in slide-grooves in the inner surfaces of the top of the inclosing chamber A' A', all

so that the frame L Ld and guide-rails A5 A", carrying the spindles l) and levers L, can be shifted longitudinally and the rail L2 shifted vertically by feathers and grooves at Lx, Fig. 11, on the ends of the brackets L2 L" to raise the fulcrum ends of the Whole set of levers L out of action with the levers K', all as will hereinafter be described. The vertical 'lifting-rail L2 is secured by plates and screws m to blocks mx on opposite sides of the center of the instrument to the right and left over the top of a vertical reciprocating lifting-rail fm', secured on the free end of levers m2, fulcruined at m3 on the inner sides of the ends H' of the harmoniuin Il, these levers resting on fiat parts of an oscillating bar m4, also fulcruined in the end frames H' and actuated by a liand-spindle m5 in front, either to raise or lower the levers m2 and rail on.' and bar L2 with the whole set of levers L out of or into Working position over the levers and their rollers R' R2, by the pushing in or drawing out of the handle m5, and as indicated in dotted and sharp lines in Fig. 9. The frame L3 L4, carrying the cards Ct and their guide-rails A5 A, and the levers L are also shifted laterally by the short horizontal and vertical frame n n', secured together within the upper and front frames B B of the haiinoniuin H over the keys and mounted between the blocks mx over a fixed longitudinal rail o2, and by two han d-screw pinsu2 workin g out through slotted guides at n3 in the front rail B'of tlieharnioniuin H, just over the keys. The handscrews n2 also secure the shifting tonic sol-fa scale s over the fixed alphabetical scale S, indicating the staff notation above the keys, as shown in Fig. 10, all so as to shift the former over the latter by the handles u2 to any key or scaleto the right or left by sight in front on the accurate divisions on both scales over the keys, so that the levers L and their respective cards a may be accurately set longitudinally over the back levers K' of the front finger-keys K Zi; to raise and indicate the notes on or to the desired scale on moving the finger-keys, or raise these levers L entirely out of action from the levers K' when it is desired to play on the harmonium to sound the keys K Zo without raising the indicating-cards a. This determining of the exact position of the levers L and cards a is also secured to prevent shifting and give complete accuracy by a lateral pin o, projecting out in front of each block mx, taking into accurately-divided notches o' (agreeing to the distance between the keys K Zo and their back levers K) in the brass plate o3, screwed in the side of the fixed bar 02, opposite each block mx, so that on this block mx and its bar m' being lowered by the handle m5 the pin o takes into the proper notch o' and retains it there until raised by the handle m5 again,when it and the whole of the levers L may be shifted laterally back to the C natural or any other key and lowered, as before described and as seen more particularly in the plan view, Fig. ll. Although the lateral sliding frame n a' IOO IIO

IIS

has been shown as shifting the back frame Z3 Zf, carrying the levers L by the blocks mX and vertical shifting rail L2, yet this might be done in other ways by a direct connection to the frame LS L, and the frames L3 L1 A5 A, although shown as guided by feather and groove fittings at A L in the bottom of the case A', carrying the cards a, may be mounted on anti-friction rollers in the lower guide-bar L5. The inclosingbox part A A would preferably be fitted with a double or single hinged lid, as indicated at AT in Figs. l and 0, respectively, for closing in the sets of cards a and protecting themfrom dust when not in use.

What I claim isl. An instrument for teaching music and the like, comprising the combination of cards or tickets a With the musical or other teaching signs on them ranged angularly and raised byvertical spindles b in a single roiv or rank through levers L,each actuated bycorrespondin glevers K under them, secured on the back end of the keys K 7s of a key-board musical instrument or equivalently-arranged hand key-board instrument, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In an instrument for teaching music and other teaching purposes, Whether portable or musical instrument, the combination ofl a movable frame Ai A L2 L3 LAl m fla', carrying the cards ce and vertical spindles b and their actuating-levers L, shifted over the actuating key-levers of the key-board by a sliding frame n n and handles n2 in front, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In an instrument for teaching music and the like, the combination, with the moving frame of cards and actuating-levers L therefor, of locking mechanism for retaining` said frame and levers, substantially as set forth.

4. In a key-board instrument for teaching music and other teaching purposes, having the keys ranged as in a piano or harmonium, the combination of a removable box A for containing a set of cards a for the respective subjects being symbolically taught, ranged at an angle, so that each card a is actuated by a corresponding key of the instrument, substantially as herein setvforth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.`

ALEXR. ADAMsoN.

Witnesses:

R. C. THOMSON, Trios. S. DUFFIE. 

